Remember how DVDs were the next big thing? Or maybe for some of you, cassette tapes? Well I’m saying that the next big thing in media acquisition and delivery is the SD (Secure Digital) card. Now before some of you get on my back about internet delivery, hear this: even though the internet has provided a great way to deliver content, producers still need to account for people who are behind the cutting edge of technology, not to mention the psychological satisfaction of actually receiving a physical item. Perhaps in a decade the majority of the United States, and likely the world will have internet fast enough to satisfy all requirements, but until then, we need a new format to subside with. SD anyone? I can’t speak for everyone, but I’d rather not wait an hour for my HD movie to download when I can have it now off a piece of plastic the size of a postage stamp.
Cost for a card has dropped to a fraction of what it was 3 years ago, and capacities have increased nearly a hundred fold. Speeds have increased, and continue to do so. People want their content–now. Faster, more reliable. and likely soon to be cheaper than a CD or DVD, SD provides that speed for a transitioning user base whether it’s being used for audio, video, image or data storage.
Beyond content delivery, SD, and it’s newer, faster SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) variant has also become the recent standard for acquisition. Big names Canon, Nikon and Panasonic have all caved into the pressure to make SD the media of choice for consumer and prosumer grade point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras, and now a card that holds around a thousand pictures costs less than a roll of film. Its acceptance has made it cheap, universal, and available. What’s not to like?
SD has been in my mind for the last few months due to its relevance in the video production world. As tape-based formats such as HDV are in their way out, the obvious next step is a tapeless workflow, giving higher resolution, better data rates, faster transfers, and greater durability.
There are really only a few choices for this in the sub-$10,000 category of video: a segment with many independent producers such as myself. P2 cards, designed for Panasonic camcorders such as the HPX-170, give the greatest data rates but also have the most substantial price, well over $1,000 for a 32GB card, which in turn produces about 3 hours of top-quality video–let me remind you that one hour DV/HDVtapes are about $3. P2 cards are rather large, however, as they are designed to fit in the 54mm slot on some laptops- bad news for Mac users.
Sony’s answer to this is the SxS Pro Expresscard format–essentially the “new” laptop card format, coming in at 34mm. Compatible with their XDCAM EX camcorders, the SxS Pro sticks are also quite pricey, comparable to P2 at similar capacities. One answer to this price hurdle was made by a company called e-films, with their MxR Adapter product. The MxR allows the inexpensive SDHC format to be used inside an Expresscard carrier, eliminating the need to exclusively use Sony’s format.
The SDHC cards are mainly being used now by Panasonic, Canon and JVC. Of most note is Panasonic’s HMC150 camcorder, which records to SDHC cards up to 64GB in capacity. To compare costs with the other formats, a 32GB SDHC card costs about $270. JVC recently released several camcorders that record to the cards, and its only a matter of time before Canon, who has been manufacturing consumer models with SD acquisition for several years, releases new prosumer models that also use the specification.
Solutions for file-based acquisition have been around for a while, but so far have been expensive or limited in functionality for real-world situations. In my opinion, the FireStore, a hard drive based recorder did not meet the needs of all productions due to its limited storage space, physical size and dependence on a battery. This being said, it’s essential that the tapeless format be fully integrated into the camera.
There are also a number of negatives for SD including a 4GB file limit, the fragility of the card’s connectors, and the current data limit of the cards for higher quality recording. I do think, however, that most of these can be corrected by software updates, manufacturing practices and the general advance of technology in making newer versions, or as SDHC cards are concerned “classes.” Currently Class 6 cards are some of the top rated for video acquisition, maxing out at around 24Mbps for AVCHD.
For more on AVCHD, see last week’s post.
I’m not the only one banking on a bright future for SD. In the latest release of Apple’s MacBook Pro has ditched the Expresscard slot for one that supports SD. Keep in mind that the MacBook Pro is designed for media professionals. It doesn’t leave much for manufacturers to realize that they want their products to work with perhaps the hottest laptops on the market. Taking all of this into account, I hope to be producing entirely tapeless products from start to finish: shooting, storing and delivering on SDHC, or another similar format within the next year or so. With any luck, the normal consumer will adapt to the technology smoothly, perhaps with devices offering multiple options for viewing such as DVD/VCR combo players, making content delivery easier, more affordable and more compatible than it’s ever been before.
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